Never Go Back Carol Ann Duffy Megan Zoe

Never Go Back Carol Ann Duffy Megan, Zoe and Saffron

Never Go Back by Carol Ann Duffy In this poem, the narrator returns to the place where they grew up / used to live and feels depressed by the changes to the area that they find and the memories evoked by the trip. The narrator encounters people that they were once close to but is unable to communicate with them in a meaningful way. In the bar where the living dead drink all day and a jukebox reminisces in a cracked voice there is nothing to say. You talk for hours in agreed motifs, anecdotes shuffled and dealt from a well-thumbed pack, snapshots. The smoky mirrors flatter; your ghost buys a round for the parched, old faces of the past. Never return to the space where you left time pining till it died. Outside, the streets tear litter in their thin hands, a tired wind whistles through the blackened stumps of houses at a limping dog. God, this is an awful place says the friend, the alcoholic, whose head is a negative of itself. You listen and nod, bereaved. Baby, what you owe to this place is unpayable in the only currency you have. So drink up. Shut up, then get them in again. And never go back. The house where you were one of the brides has cancer. It prefers to be left alone nursing its growth and cracks, each groan and creak accusing as you climb the stairs to the bedroom and draw your loved body on blurred air with the simple power of loss. All the lies told here, and all the cries of love, suddenly swarm in the room, sting you, disappear. You shouldn’t be here. You follow your shadow through the house, discover that objects held in the hands can fill a room with pain. You lived here only to stand here now and half-believe that you did. A small moment of death by a window myopic with rain. You learn this lesson hard, speechless, slamming the front door, shaking plaster confetti from your hair. A taxi implying a hearse takes you slowly, the long way round, to the station. The driver looks like death. The places you knew have changed their names by neon, cheap tricks in a theme-park with no name. Sly sums of money wink at you in the cab. At a red light, you wipe a slick of cold sweat from the glass for a drenched whore to stare you full in the face. You pay to get out, pass the Welcome To sign on the way to the barrier, an emigrant for the last time. The train sighs and pulls you away, rewinding the city like a film, snapping it off at the river. You go for a drink, released by a journey into nowhere, nowhen, and all the way home you forget. Forget. Already the fires and lights come on wherever you live. There are overall semantic fields and themes of old age, death, illness, alcoholism, returning to your past and memories within each of the stanzas of the poem.

Time and the jukebox are There is a semantic field Oxymoron – symbolising personified to accentuate there of old age and death the old or ill or those importance to the narrator – the within this stanza. who have given up on jukebox is reminiscing as is the The context and theme of a bar life narrator and shows the pain of the and drinking alcohol is frequent old memories – ‘cracked voice’. throughout the stanza. In the bar where the living dead drink all day Antithesis and a jukebox reminisces in a cracked voice there is nothing to say. You talk for hours Gambling (physically or Metaphor alluding in agreed motifs, anecdotes shuffled and dealt with your life) or luck to the narrator’s from a well-thumbed pack, snapshots. The smoky mirrors old age / the sense flatter; your ghost buys a round for the parched, of giving up on life old faces of the past. Never return / their almost Shows an atmosphere to the space where you left time pining till it died. non-existent presence of ambiguity and the in the bar. unknown – Time and the past mystery / magic The abstract noun, ‘ghost’ are key themes in Direct address to suggests that the narrator this stanza audience / narrator talking to doesn’t feel entirely present themselves internally and remembering events in the bar – doesn’t feel like Enjambment is used throughout the Memories and reminiscing themselves or the person stanza to emphasise certain lexis on past events are key they used to be when they such as , ‘hours’ and phrases such themes in this stanza. were in the bar before. as, ‘smoky mirrors’.

Themes of alcoholism, drinking and death / bereavement. Personification and pathetic fallacy show the ‘tired’ and gloomy atmosphere of the setting. Personification is used as poetic imagery to show the desolate and grim setting of the streets. Outside, the streets tear litter in their thin hands, a tired wind whistles through the blackened stumps of houses Dialogue – written in italics at a limping dog. God, this is an awful place says the friend, the alcoholic, whose head is a negative to show that it is spoken of itself. You listen and nod, bereaved. Baby, Metaphor what you owe to this place is unpayable in the only currency you have. So drink up. Shut up, then get them in again. And never go back. Direct address to audience / narrator talking to themselves internally and remembering events Alliteration Repetition Short, simple, declarative sentences These features are used to show the monotony of the actions and accentuate the narrators feeling of being trapped in an unpleasant cycle. Repetition and consonance – stresses the lexis, ‘up’ and shows the tension felt by the narrator.

Direct address to audience / narrator talking to themselves internally and remembering events Theme of illness and frailty The atmosphere in the house is described with emotive language as hostile and full of tension. The house where you were one of the brides Personification has cancer. It prefers to be left alone nursing its growth and cracks, each groan and creak accusing as you climb the stairs to the bedroom Metaphor – ambiguous – and draw your loved body on blurred air symbolic of a hazy memory with the simple power of loss. All the lies Internal rhyme told here, and all the cries of love, suddenly swarm in the room, sting you, disappear. Enjambment is used throughout the stanza to emphasise certain lexis such as, ‘creak’ and ‘love’ – creating a clear image of the narrator’s feeling and the setting. It is also used to create caesuras that mimic natural speech. Triplet Metaphor

Direct address to audience and repetition / narrator talking to themselves internally and remembering events. Rhyme of ‘pain’ and ‘rain’ – creates a structure and rhythm for the poem and emphasises each of the lexis individually. Enjambment is used throughout the stanza to emphasise certain lexis such as, ‘pain’ and ‘rain’ – creating a clear image of the narrator’s feeling and the setting. It is also used to create caesuras that mimic natural speech. You shouldn’t be here. You follow your shadow through the house, discover that objects held Metaphor in the hands can fill a room with pain. Pathetic fallacy – showing the mood You lived here only to stand here now of the narrator to be unhappy and half-believe that you did. A small moment of death by a window myopic with rain. “myopic” –> short-sighted You learn this lesson hard, speechless, slamming Alliteration Another reference the front door, shaking plaster confetti from your hair. to death Onomatopoeia is used to highlight the narrators mood as they leave the house. The verb, ‘slamming’ suggests that the narrator is unhappy with the memories brought back to them. Metaphor List – creates a long, complex, declarative sentence to aid emotive description of events and the creation of imagery.

The description of a taxi as ‘implying a hearse’ can suggest that the narrator feels as if the old personality that they had when they lived in this area is now dead. Theme of death Personification – shows the vulgarity of the town and the temptation of the narrator. Metaphor – changes in a familiar place – ‘theme park with no name’ (the town / the narrators life) – the demise of a place they once new Like life in the town, the long way round – can’t get out of the town fast enough A taxi implying a hearse takes you slowly, the long way round, to the station. The driver looks like death. The places you knew have changed their names by neon, cheap tricks in a theme-park with no name. Sly sums of money wink at you in the cab. At a red light, you wipe a slick of cold sweat from the glass for a drenched whore to stare you full in the face. The narrator sees the town as a grotesque / ‘cheap’ and they no longer fit in there and are relieved to be leaving / escaping. Alliteration – highlights the cunningness of the people of the town and the narrators disgust of the money and the town. Metaphor for condensation or actually sweat on the glass. Direct address to audience / narrator talking to themselves internally and remembering events.

Direct address to audience / narrator talking to themselves internally and remembering events. Shows that it is a sign and is juxtaposing to her leaving the town. Capitals Personification – You pay to get out, pass the Welcome To sign symbolising the narrators relief of escaping the on the way to the barrier, an emigrant town for the last time. The train sighs Never going back to Simile the town again – it is and pulls you away, rewinding the city like a film, not home to them snapping it off at the river. You go for a drink, Nonsense word – slight anymore. They escape released by a journey into nowhere, nowhen, repetition to their new ‘home’ and all the way home you forget. Forget. Already where they feel Repetition – the fires and lights come on wherever you live. accepted and happy puts stress on while ‘forget[ting]’ the lexis and Short, sharp, declarative about the town they shows its Warm / happy – the sentence (only one word) just came from. importance. opposite of the - Stresses the importance of town that she just the lexis, ‘forget’. This shows came from – that the narrator really does somewhere that she want to forget this loves. experience and the town.

How do Nostalgia and Never Go Back present theme of memory? • • • Returning to your home town Both feature pain of returning but in different ways/ for different reasons. Theme of death in both poems (one is physical illness, one metaphorical). Both about fear (Nostalgia – fear of (not) leaving, NGB fear of memory). Sense of regret. Second person pronoun (direct address) “you” in NGB whereas Nostalgia uses the situation of Swiss mercenaries to convey the idea of nostalgia. Subtle internal, irregular rhyming – Nostalgia (“kill” and “ill”) and NGB (“pain” and “rain”). Use of imagery – metaphor and personification in both poems (WHAT DO THESE CONVEY? ) Nostalgia has lexical field of war, NGB has lexical field of illness. Use of oxymoron: Nostalgia (“sweet pain”) and NGB (“living dead”).